A GILT-BRONZE CAST AND REPOUSSÉ ISHTADEVATA SHRINE, NEPAL, DATED 1824
Lot 27 - HS0625

Finely worked in three parts, the faceless deity adorned with foliate jewelry and tiara, framed by an elaborate torana decorated with Garuda flanked by anthropomorphized serpents, supported on columns above which are mythical creatures, backed by a flaming aureole terminating in a tiered parasol that terminates in a finial. The base neatly incised with a lengthy inscription along the lower tier including a date.

Inscriptions: To the base, dated ‘the eleventh day of the month of Magsar, Nepal Sambat 944’ (corresponding to 1824).

Provenance: French trade. A private collection in Vienna, Austria, acquired from the above.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear and manufacturing irregularities including light warping. Few small dents, minute nicks, light scratches, small losses. The back with few minor losses. Extensive remnants of ritual pigment. The bronze with a fine, smooth, dark patina.

Weight: 558 g
Dimensions: Height 15.2 cm

In Buddhist tantra, the ishtadevata becomes the principal focus of one's meditation practice. The meditational deity may be chosen by the practitioner or the practitioner chosen by the deity; in most cases, one must receive confirmation from one's guru that the deity is the one with which one has a true affinity.

Iṣṭadevata refers to the “tutelary deity” (visualized as situated at the center of the sacred tree – tshog shin), according to William Stablein’s A Descriptive Analysis of the Content of Nepalese Buddhist Pujas as a Medical-Cultural System (with References to Tibetan Parallels).—The tshog shin is also mentally visualized.—[...] The essence of the tree is the bija [seed], which has an empty center from which the divinity is imagined to grow. [...] In the center of the sacred tree there is the supreme vajradhara, the iṣṭadevata sits below, and surrounding the tree at the bottom are the natha [protectors]. These three can be likened unto a seed: the center, the embryo, and the protective layer, respectively. It is believed that the divinities are actually not different from each other in essence, which at least is known and realized by most hierophants (varjacarya).

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related copper repoussé shrine of an ishtadevata, mid 19^th century, in the Patan Museum, Kathmandu. Compare a closely related brass repoussé sculpture of an enshrine deity, dated 1831, in the Patan Museum, Kathmandu.